David Caretto on Valley
Veterans
David Caretto, December 2013 ____ It was our privilege to attend
the Marine Corps Ball at the Elks Lodge. This is a special event for
those Marine Corps veterans, families and those with any military background or
interest. Once again they honored the youngest Marine--Nick Pfeifer, 18,
who had just graduated from basic training the day before and was back home in
Big Bear--and the oldest Marine--Katie Dokter, 96, mother of Patti and Garry
Dokter of Big Bear Lake. The Cake Cutting Ceremony and other traditions
are a wonderful celebration of the birthday of the Marine Corps. We
appreciate being invited each year by the Marine Corps League, and I would
encourage you to attend in the future.
Cindy and I also attended the Veterans Day Ceremony at the
Convention Center on Monday, and as usual it was a fitting tribute to all
of our Veterans. It was very well attended this year, and the speaker,
Air Force Captain Goldsmith (of the wonderful local Goldsmith family) was
great. It is so nice to see how our community honors Veterans, especially
after the great success of the Vietnam Traveling Wall (Kudos to Vince Smith and
all involved in that wonderful event).
It was also a special week for our own military family too, as
our oldest son, Captain Peter Caretto, U.S. Army Special Forces, returned
safely from a seven-month deployment in Afghanistan. We are so grateful, but we
were, unfortunately, not able to be at Fort Lewis, WA to welcome him home;
however, we are looking forward to seeing him here in Big Bear Lake over the
holidays.